BRUSSELS: The Belgian strike came days after a day of protest in Italy against Prime Minister Matteo Renzi´s ambitious reform plans, while there have been similar demonstrations in Spain and Greece in recent months. “There has never been a strike this strong,” Marie-Helene Ska, the head of the Christian CSC union, was quoted as saying by the Belga news agency.
In the climax to a month of industrial action against new Prime Minister Charles Michel´s policies, striking workers stopped all public transport while most schools, businesses and government offices shut down.
Pickets also blocked traffic outside the Brussels headquarters of the European Union, a 28-nation bloc that has seen years of protests against austerity aimed at cutting debts that threatened the euro currency.
Unions went ahead with Monday´s general strike after premier Michel´s right-of-centre government refused to budge on plans to save 11 billion Euros ($13.7 billion) over five years.
The government formed five months after elections had hoped to calm a nation deeply divided between the richer Flanders and the poorer French-speaking Wallonia, but instead has led to weeks of industrial action.
Belgian trade unions launched their movement last month with a march of more than 100,000 people in Brussels, which ended in violent protests that left dozens of police officers injured.
The last national strike in Belgium was in 2012 against the government of socialist prime minister Elio di Rupo.
Some 50,000 passengers have been affected as a total of 600 incoming and outgoing flights have been cancelled at Brussels international airport, spokeswoman Florence Muls said. “All flights are cancelled. Everything is immobilised,” Muls told AFP, adding that it had affected some travellers trying to get away early for the Christmas holidays. “It´s a real disaster” for the airports and passengers, Jean-Jacques Cloquet, managing director of Charleroi said on the RTBF news website, adding there would be a knock-on effect during the busy holiday period.
